Vegan Cheese: A Reckoning

So, Chelsea and I were at Wegman’s on Friday, scouting for some things (including the coconut oil used for pulling, which is a different post entirely) and we were in the organic section. I was looking at the pre-seasoned tofu (Who has time to press and drain all the damn time?) when suddenly, Chelsea chimes in:

“Hey, look — vegan nacho cheese. The whole thing is only 10 points!”

Indeed.

She was holding a brick of Daiya nacho cheese, and like she said, the whole thing was ten points. That would be a LOT of cheese — even if we had a “treat night” and split it, it would be only five points! To put this in perspective: one ounce of almonds is 4PP; a Greek yogurt with one tablespoon of flax is 4PP. 5PP IS NOT BAD as far as nacho-cheese-goodness goes, or as anything goes at all.

So we brought it home and Chelsea did some internet sleuthing — one woman suggested adding salsa. Okay. Done. Chelsea melted the cheese and stirred the salsa in — I’ll have to ask her for details, since I wasn’t watching.

The result: Oh lord, it was so good. It tasted to me (especially with tomato salsa included) like the cheese on top of a pizza that has been mixed with sauce. It was DELICIOUS. We ate it by dipping celery sticks, and it was truly delicious.

I think in the future it would totally kick the pants off a craving for actual nachos or for wings or that type of pub food.

The best part: unlike its “real” counterpart, this stuff wasn’t oily at all and didn’t leave me feeling gross.

A winning situation all around!

Now, we have heard that a lot of vegan cheeses are terrible. We have never tried any before this — we’re not vegans, or even vegetarians — but if this nacho flavored one is any indication, the Daiya brand seems pretty okay by me.

Just a tip.

For real though if you like cheese or savory dips but can’t spare the calories/PP, you’ve GOT to try this stuff.

In my eyes, it is for celery what nutritional yeast is for EVERYTHING ELSE.